Friends or Foes?
by mysticalflute
Summary: Emma says she has a lot of friends. That's why they all showed up to the party celebrating her getting out of jail. But why didn't they support her when she was arrested to begin with?


"Call us if you need _anything_, Mary," Emma heard Ruby say as they stood near the open apartment door. "I swear, we'll be there for you quicker than lightning!"

Emma smiled as she scrubbed a tray that once had appetizers on it, trying to make it seem like she wasn't eavesdropping on the conversation.

"I promise, Ruby," Mary-Margaret replied, hugging Ruby and waving to her as she left the apartment.

"We should head off too, Mary-Margaret, Emma. I think Leroy's had a bit too much to drink," Tom Clarke said, stumbling over to the door as he tried to balance the drunken Leroy on his shoulder while letting out a sneeze. "I should get him home before he decides he wants to drive."

Emma nodded. "Of course. I don't want to have to come get him later on and take him to the station," she replied. Leroy had continued his tradition of ending up in the jail's cell far too often despite Graham's death.

"You won't have to. I promise. Thanks for inviting us."

With that, the final guests trickled out of the apartment. Despite herself, Emma let out a sigh of relief. This party had been her idea, and she didn't regret putting it on for Mary-Margaret, but she wasn't used to hosting parties and being that overly friendly. She supposed it was something she was going to have to get used to, living with someone as sweet and bubbly as Mary-Margaret Blanchard.

"Hey Mary-Margaret, why don't you go relax? I can finish cleaning up the stuff from the party," Emma called as Mary-Margaret closed the door behind Archie.

"Are you sure? I don't mind helping; you are the one that set up this whole party for me to begin with…" Mary-Margaret replied, already beginning to collect dirty dishes and tossing out the used paper products that had been left behind.

"I'm positive. I'm sure you're eager to spend the night in your own bed."

Mary-Margaret gave her a small smile that didn't quite match her eyes, but before Emma could ask her about it, she'd retreated to the bathroom, the door closing behind her. She tried to catch her again when she heard the bathroom door open, but Mary-Margaret had moved too quickly to her bedroom, and Emma's concern only grew.

She finished loading the dishwasher and turned it on, carefully making her way to Mary-Margaret's bedroom, pausing outside the door when she heard the distinct sound of sniffling, and she felt her heart sink. Something _had_ upset her roommate.

"Mary-Margaret?" she called, knocking quietly on the door.

* * *

_You've got a lot of friends._

The words rolled through Mary-Margaret's head over and over again. They were words of comfort, she knew Emma meant well when she'd said them, but it just wasn't sitting well with her. None of it was. The words, the party, the smiles on everyone's faces. Nothing about tonight, other than getting out of jail and the card from her students (strangely worded as it was) had made her remotely happy.

So as soon as Emma had given her a chance to escape, she'd gone into the bathroom to do her nightly routine, but as soon as she'd glanced at herself in the mirror, she'd felt herself break.

No one at that party barring Ruby, Emma, August and Henry had supported her. No one there had believed her. They had run around town calling her a tramp, a slut, a home wrecker.

A murderer.

She'd spent weeks being bullied and cast aside like she was nothing, including having the word TRAMP spray painted in bright red ink on her car that still hadn't come out, and then suddenly, when she was set free and now people just wanted to party? Not one of them had even apologized!

It hadn't taken long for the tears to form, and she tried to use the sound of the sinks in the bathroom and the kitchen to mask the sound of her crying as she brushed her teeth and removed her make-up, stopping when the sinks did. She splashed some water on her face for good measure to ease the redness in her cheeks before she'd gone into her bedroom to continue the crying. Emma had worked so hard on the party, she didn't want to make Emma feel bad.

But of course, Emma knew what she was feeling, and had knocked on the door anyway.

"Oh – Emma… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to let you hear that."

"What's the matter? Can I come in?"

"Sure."

Emma opened the door, only taking one step into the room as she looked at Mary-Margaret.

She wasn't sure what to say, looking at Emma. "Emma, I – "

"It's okay. Just talk when you're ready. Do you want me to sit with you?"

"Why did all of those people come to the party?"

Emma stared in surprise. "What? They came to celebrate you being innocent."

"After everything they did to me in the last couple of weeks, Emma? They harassed me to no end, and now all of a sudden they care about me? Please don't think I'm upset at you, Emma," she continued when she saw the look on her face. "I appreciate the party, I do. I just… I really thought that I would… get an apology or two."

"Wait, what? Mary-Margaret, why didn't you tell me all that happened to you? I knew about the car but – "

"Because you were too busy working to find Kathryn. Not that it's… a bad thing of course. You were doing your job and she was in danger."

"Yeah but I should have known something else was going on. You were uh – "

Mary-Margaret smiled despite the tears. "I was in over my head."

Emma handed her a tissue, a frown still on her face. "Even so… I'm sorry. I should have known something was bothering you before all of this happened. You're my family. And I'm apparently really bad at this."

"No, Emma. You're not. I've just gotten used to this."

Concern replaced Emma's frown. "Gotten used to _what_?"

"Wearing my heart on my sleeve and not getting anything in return," she replied, more bluntly than she'd intended. "Or. Getting very little in return, I should say. You, Henry, August, Ruby and Mr. Gold were the only ones that believed in me."

"What the hell is wrong with this town?" Emma muttered, sitting on the bed with her. "So you mean to tell me this is a common thing?"

"I… wouldn't say common but… it seems I give everything only to get smacked in the face." She didn't know when she'd suddenly gotten so bold, but she couldn't say it was so bad when she had Emma here listening to her worries and struggles. "I was the rich kid that had everything. I guess people never wanted to get to know me, so I didn't have many friends. And then… when my father died and I used my inheritance for college… that was it. It was too late."

"It shouldn't have been!" Emma snapped, frowning. "You should have had friends, a family you could turn to. Not just a juvenile criminal like me."

"Emma…"

"I'm serious. I'm going to make this better for you, Mary-Margaret. I don't know how, but I will."

Neither of them realized that two weeks later, Emma would make good on that promise, by breaking the curse that had been placed on the realm twenty-eight years ago. Snow White's family and friends were returned to her, and the apologies finally flooded in.

She, of course, forgave her friends and husband, after all they were cursed and they probably wouldn't do such a thing to begin with. But, though she forgave them, the words had hurt… and it was telling that the cursed personalities felt no need to apologize to Mary-Margaret Blanchard, despite all the good she'd done for them and the town as a whole.

As much as she didn't want to, Snow couldn't help but wonder who her friends really were.


End file.
